A stagehand is a person who works backstage or
behind the scenes in theatres, film, television, or location
performance. Their duties include setting up the scenery, lights,
sound, props, rigging, and special effects for a production.

Types of stagehand

General

Stagehands are generally employed on a show-by-show
basis, although most major theatres and studios maintain staff
heads of departments and assistants. Often, they are union members,
typically
I.A.T.S.E. in the United States. Many stagehands are on a path
to become a designer or
director.

Challenges

Stagehands are required to work in any and every
environment. Since they are required work in a number of venues
(i.e. theatres, film and television sets or arenas) the type of
jobs they are expected to do varies greatly. For outdoor and large
arena performances stagehands may be required to do everything from
the rigging the stage installing lighting, scenic, special effects
and sound systems. Stagehands are often responsible for operating
these systems during shows or tapings and also for the repair and
maintenance of the equipment. Performances often travel worldwide
and it is very common for twenty or more trucks to arrive at a
location with tens of thousands of tons worth of gear to be built
by local stagehands who are then instructed by road or production
stagehands who travel with the show (known as roadies) for a one
day show. Afterwards, they take it all apart that evening and load
back onto its fleet of trucks to haul it to the next city to built
again the next day. Other shows might set up in a certain theatre
or studio and stagehands and other trades might remain there for
years.

Theatrical musicals and plays are often put
together in theaters which tend to be very small. Hours for a
stagehand can start in the early morning and can end late at night
or just the opposite. Some of a stagehands duties are very physical
and carry a high risk of injury or fatigue. Rigging stagehands
build structures that are tens of stories high and must climb on
pieces of steel sometimes a few inches wide. Much of the same
safety gear used for mountain climbing is utilized. Other duties
require highly specialized skills such as programing lighting
displays created by LDs (lighting designers) during the
pre-production phase. Most stagehands have a general knowledge of
all the phases of a production, however specialists tend to handle
some of the more technical departments such as lighting or rigging
as described above.

However most major productions employ unionized
stagehands who can be paid well especially those with specialized
skills. Employment can be intermittent, for instance seasonal with
long and odd hours. Some grips might travel the better part of
years. One day a stagehand might find themselves living on buses
and hotel while on tour with a rock band or in exotic movie
locations for months at a time. In some smaller productions,
stagehands are not all paid: many are volunteers, theatre students
or unpaid interns.

Touring stagehands

Some shows do not stay in one particular
theater, but rather circulate through many theaters. These shows
usually travel with one or two hands for each department (often
referred to as "roadies") and use local stagehands from the area
where the show is performing if needed.